The Community Concerts Associations began as a way to expand musical culture from the big cities into smaller communities that lacked the resources to attract quality entertainment. Community Concerts first began in 1922 as the Organized Audience Movement, headed by Dema Harshbarger and Ward French. They soon attracted the attention of Columbia Concerts Corporation (later to become Columbia Artists Management, Inc.), which adopted Community Concerts in 1928. Community Concerts, Inc., was then established as a subsidiary of Columbia Artists Management to assist local communities to form their own Community Concert Associations, finally becoming its own subdivision in 1996. In 1999, Columbia Artists Management sold Community Concerts to Trawick Artists Management. By 2003, Trawick Artists Management went bankrupt due to funds mismanagement. At the height of Community Concerts, about 1,200 nonprofit associations existed across the country; now, many of them still survive as independent entities which have cut ties with Trawick and function on their own.
From the guide to the Community Concert Association programs, 1942-1989, (L. Tom Perry Special Collections)
